End of the Squirrels

New Bird Feeders:	$55.00
New Double Shepherd's Crook:	$25.00
Bird Feed:	$31.00
Hummingbird Feeder:	$20.00
Two Squirrel Baffles:	$40.00
Actually Feeding Bird Seed to the Birds:	Priceless

Backyard Additions

My dad had a relapse and is back in the hospital - but doing pretty good now. So, while he's been laid up, I've been doing some things in the backyard. Finally gave in and got a squirrel baffle that seems to work really well at keeping "Stinky" off the feeders, so got a new shepherd's crook and two new nice feeders.

And, the result of all this? Is is worth it?

I think so. This is a goldfinch sitting and eating thistle (Nyger) seeds. I'm thrilled. The feeders have only been back up a day or so, and already I've seen these, little red house finchs, cardinals, blackbirds, bluejays, sparrows and chickadees, and a wren. The bluejay was the biggest surprise. They used to be everywhere but lately have suffered some sort of setback.

I'll be putting the hummingbird feeders back up in the next few days, and hope to have those little friends back soon, as well!

What To Do with a Yard Full of Storm Damaged Trees

First buy an expensive chain saw. Chop into small-ish pieces. Leave strewn all over yard. Borrow a few plastic trash cans. Fill with debris. Scrape off several knuckles and gouge out large chunks of your hands. Cuss. Scratch everywhere between your fingertips and shoulders with branches. Cuss a lot. Spent two days doing this . . . cussing all the while. Take a look at the yard. Realize you are not making even a tiny dent in the debris. Cuss a whole bunch.


Have a son who comes up work a workable solution. Go to several stores and try to buy a firepit (a summer goodie) on the 27th of December. Succeed in finding ones for nearly $200. Cuss some more. Admit defeat, then try one more store - what the heck, it's already getting dark. Find a cheap firepit, in a new box, at a very reasonable price. Take home, smiling all the way. Let son assemble while you prepare dinner. Invite a friendly firebug friend to join you (knowing you are both firebugs, too). Have dinner, and spend six hours burning storm debris, toasting marshmallows, and making s'mores!


Pictures . . . .






















We did have a bit of trouble lighting the thing - but about a quart of lamp oil seemed to do the trick when dry leaves were at a premium . . . we had a nice little blaze and managed to go through quite a bit of the pieces of wood!

UPDATE: Today the yard man came and started raking up leaves and carting off branches - otherwise known as "firepit fuel." There are HUGE piles all over the back yard, the gutters were cleaned for the first time in three years, and by tomorrow evening, everything will be carted away! Hurray! But the most amazing thing was that - even after over 14 hours - the firepit still had a big pile of burning embers!!!

The Return

It is the return of the Mystery tree of 2004. This is the tree that mysteriously appeared in my driveway on the day my great niece was born. I arrived home from the hospital and a celebratory dinner with the family, and found it in my driveway. To this day, nobody will admit to being the one who delivered this tree. But I love it. Was pushed into bringing it up and decorating by a number of people. Most noteworthy would be my niece (not the mom one, but the other one) and my high school friend, Mike. He even helped bring it and boxes of ornaments up from the basement, helped set it up, and tried like crazy to get the star to stay vertical.

You will also note that for a household of one, there are a bunch of presents under the tree . . . and I had an absolute blast picking them out, waiting for delivery and wrapping. Am almost finished with that, and now must start making toffee and baking cookies.

Isn't this the cutest ornament you ever saw? Was another gift from 2004 when I was a project coordinator and managed the front desk. We had lots of vendors, and one of them gave me this beautiful little guy from the Irish Crystal Shoppe here in town.

We also made a trip to the glassblower last weekend, and I now have about 8 of the handblown ornaments. They even got hung on the tree this year! Oh, wonder of wonders! It is indeed a magical Christmas!

My 5-Day St. Louis Power Outage

After getting power back last night sometime, tonite was spent cleaning out the freezers. While doing that, thought of writing this song (You know the tune, join on in!):

Disposing the freezer contents, thanks to AmerenUE, I tossed:
12 frozen croisants,
11 chicken legs,
10 2" boneless porkchops,
9 boxes of cornmeal mix,
8 pork cutlettes,
7 assorted leftovers,
6 pounds of butter,
5 pounds of bacon!
4 entire chickens,
3 bags of venison,
2 bags of veggies,
and a bag of flour with an Arabic label! OR:
and an whole frozen Thanksgiving turkey!

Needed to share that with somebody, so it ends up on my blog.

Imagine carting all that in one giant trash bin to the curb. I truly feel a bit old and creaky tonite!

Another Lost Day . . .

Anybody besides me have this problem? Weekday wake-up time is 6:15 a.m. and for some reason, all during the week, bedtime goes from 11 p.m. to as late as 12:30 a.m. I drag all day long, then magically wake up WIDE AWAKE the moment my feet hit the pavement in the garage! It's like I'm on super-caffine all evening. The whole week is spent looking forward to the weekend - getting errands done, enjoying my free time.

Then on Saturday, you wake up at 7:30 a.m. Ok, this is great. Lots of stuff will FINALLY get done! Like grocery shopping, vacuuming, yard work, and recreational shoe and clothing shopping. But around 10:30 a.m. you're still on the couch, not even dressed and the exhaustion overcomes you. Since you're still in jammies, going back to bed seems like a great idea. 11 a.m. finds you back asleep where you don't wake up until around 3 p.m. UGH!

And so, like every other Saturday, I will VOW next week will be different!

Singing That Ole "I'm Still a Stupid New Homeowner" Blues

Ok - I admit it - I like to take baths. Long, hot, steamy baths that make my fingers all pruney. When I moved in three and a half years ago, I realized there was a problem with the tub stopper-upper. It leaked. "Smart new homeowner" that I was, I took off the little strainer frackus and bought a plug. Works great!

However . . . the other night I had quite a scare. I admit, I have long hair, and I try very hard to keep the hair debris from going down the tub drain. So, imagine how shocked I was about 45 minutes after my tub plug was pulled to still find about two inches of water left, slowly trickling out the drain!! "Smart new homeowner" to the rescue - I got a crochet hook and dug for hair in the drain and . . . . nothing! Figured it was finally going to require a call to the plumber, when I noticed that the little built-in tub plug was in the "up" position, supposedly holding in the water!!! Once I flipped that, the darned thing drained great!

Another lesson learned!

Not Much Blogging - So Much News

Ok - I know I can't have it both ways!! Been busy here. Started a new temp job and am really enjoying it! Should go to sometime around the end of the year. Am hoping it might continue, but that remains to be seen. Everybody keep their fingers crossed!

My refrigerator picked Friday the 13th (that came on Thursday this month)as a good day to die. Since I'm blond, it took me until Friday to notice (or admit?) the iced tea was quite so icy. Didn't know what was going to happen, since I'm kind of between "paychecks" right now, so my dad helped me out - A LOT! We went and got a new fridge that will be delivered on Monday - and he will be here for the delivery while I'm at work (double yippee!). At this point in my life, not sure what I'd do without him!

Have spent quite a bit of time killing dust mites the last few days. Have had hives for a couple of weeks and so it is the seasonal heavy-duty cleaning of the bed linens, blankets, bedspread (see my knitting blog for pictures of the 35-pound bedspread), and so forth. Without a working dryer, am very pleased the weather's cooperating and it's nice outside. So, my patio's covered with laundry gently waving in the breeze. Smells nice out there, too!

Anyway, will try and blog more often. Been a busy time, as you can tell.

Not Much Blogging - Not Much News

Not too much going on in my little world. I am once again gainfully employed, but once again as a "temp." Wonder if I will ever have a real job I can call my own for the "duration" again. Has been a couple years now. Perhaps I should try my best, and actually consider myself "semi-retired." At least this particular one is with a good company and will allow me to meet my financial obligations for a change instead of just scraping by. That's something to be thankful for!

Otherwise, if you've visited my knitting blog, you will notice that everywhere in my life is my "waiting room" and much of my time waiting for the phone to ring has been filled with knitting. Gotten lots of little stuff done.

With the Great Drought of 2005 officially over, the devestation in my yard and garden is almost complete. I have one surviving tomato plant which is currently graced with 3 tiny green tomatoes - the first of my season. Surely the fall leaves can't be too far behind. Figures! The begonias in front have managed to hang on and are only a couple months stunted. When they are finally killed off by the frost, they should look pretty good! And the Montmorency cherry tree survived! Now if it can make it through the winter, perhaps we will see more than one cherry next year. I can hardly wait! Although I have decided to give up the official vegetable garden and will pursue this in pots on the patio next year in hopes of a better harvest - or just a harvest of something!

At least during this little break I have kept busy and completed quite a few of the things I can do that were listed on my Monster Chore list. Thank goodness! Several of the remaining things require either a man or enough money or both . . . so they will wait a bit longer, as right now neither of those are on my horizons. One day, I vow, the car will be able park in the garage again!! Garbage will get ground up in my disposal again!! And laundry will spend an hour in a magical box and come out fluffy and dry instead of hanging in the basement on a clothesline for a couple days and ending up like boards. You heard it here first!

So, tomorrow I take the required drug test for the job, and hopefully will start within a week or so. Yippee! Keep your fingers crossed!

Ancient Mystery Solved!

I present for your information and entertainment a photo of my front door and accompanying light switch as seen from the inside. Make special note of the light switch. I have . . . . many times.


On closer inspection, we can clearly see two switches to the left - top is for the front porch and bottom is for the entryway lights. And on the very right is the dimmer switch - for the track lighting over the far end of the livingroom.

I moved into this house in August of 2002 - just over three years ago. In all that time, I have been baffled about that center switch. At Christmas - ALL THREE YEARS - I tried to make it work the outside receptacle so that I could control the Christmas lights with a quick flip of the switch. But NOOOOOOOO! That never worked! I gave up finally and decided it just wasn't connected to anything and went about living my little hum-drum life.

Well, not anymore! In all those years, that "lovely" plant has been sitting in that spot - HIDING AN ELECTRIC RECEPTACLE! Yes, that center switch controls that receptacle!! Now - you have to understand that I moved a very heavy recliner sofa all alone to hook an extension cord into a receptacle behind it so I could vacuum - for THREE YEARS. I finally discovered this little oddity when I cleaned the livingroom and dining room carpet last week. Whew!

Can anybody say "blond idiot?"

Monster Update #3 and Katrina

Bet you thought I'd forgotten about my monster chore list. Now that we've been able to "stand down" from the full "Julie Alert" and are back with a green light and also since I'm not working, it has been reborn. So, this week, the carpet got cleaned. Yippee! Another major chore completed, at least for a while. It's funny - the carpet went from the nice, light tan to an elephant grey!! It is beautiful! Next - washing woodwork and curtains. Ugh! Once these are done, it will be cooler and time to spend some time outside weeding and trimming.

Also, dug up my tub of potato plants last weekend. It is hard to believe, but all that was in there was DIRT! Not even a nub the size of a pea! That's it - I may be done gardening! Just not enough sun in my yard. This year, combined with the drought, I got absolutely nothing. Sigh. All that hard work!

Also - please keep thinking good thoughts for Hurricane Katrina victims. My friends Julie, Bill, his son, and their friends, Julie's co-workers at PWC, and everybody else affected - the damage is unbelievable, now made more difficult by the actions of some of the victims. I am just pleased that the people I know who live there or have property are safe and dry in other areas - but I know that it will be a long way to normal from here. New Orleans is a great town full of history and fun, and we can only hope that its best aspects are salvageable. I know it is constantly in my thoughts as I watch the news.

Finished Kitchen Remodel!!

As promised, the kitchen remodel pictures!! Please pardon the fuzziness - I have a small camera, but it works pretty good! Note the disgusting state of this side of the kitchen - microwave sitting on top of a small camp table, stuff on top and underneath. An inexpensive "cabinet" to store some cookware. Awful!

Then my son gave me his old cabinets, and I spent last summer in the garage and basement, "pretty-fying" them.


Finally, after all the work, they are complete, anchored, and absolutely stunning! I can't believe after all this time, they are finally done. Have to give a bunch of credit to my son, Michael, and his wife, Angela, who spent Mother's Day Saturday doing the major install.

So, I am proud to introduce, my new, improved kitchen!





Finally completed after countless coats of paint, stenciling, polyurethaning, storing, moving, hanging, re-constructing, and cleaning!

Monster Update #2 - 08 Aug 05

I am so sore, I can hardly move!!

Cleaned the new cabinets and shelves, installed the shelves, collected some of the stuff from the basement and washed all of it and put it in the new cabinets. Took the kitchen ceiling fan apart and cleaned it, then put it back together. Moved the refrigerator (twice, actually) to clean under and behind it. Cleaned the desk, took a bunch of books, the scanner, computer parts, and Easter egg supplies to the basement, extra cabinet doors and shelves, flower pots with dead flowers, car wash soap, and several bags of trash to the garage. Made the bed in the guest room, cleaned floors and my desk, dusted, cleaned the bathroom and stove, refilled the hummingbird feeder, watered the flowers inside and out, cleaned all the trash cans, and did laundry and grocery shopping. Just a nice, quiet weekend!

Hopefully, that will take care of the majority of it. Still some vacuuming, dusting, floor washing, weed pulling, and car cleaning to go, but hopefully, everything will be done soon! The Monster List has helped make sense of all those little things that have been bugging me to get them done! Sorta like a "honey do" list, only I'm the honey!

If I am able to get some pictures of the new cabinets in place, I will post "before" and "after" pics soon!

Monster Update #1 - 02 Aug 05

We managed to complete and cross off the "monster" list below eight of the 11 items scheduled for last weekend. Basically - things are going great!! My son and I lowered the kitchen cabinets (finally), we cut the countertop and set it in place (this still needs a bit more work), lightbulbs were replaced, dead phone and electrical wires and outlets were removed, the whatnot shelf was rehung over the stove, windows were washed, a mirror was rehung (that wasn't even ON the list!), cabinets were hung in the garage for the potting bench, and some floors were cleaned. Basically 8 items completed, several over 50%, and some will have to wait. Unfortunately, I was distracted on Sunday by normal life - dishwashing, laundry, cooking, and so forth. But, having the list staring at me, knowing the goals I've set, make me more determined to get everything completed! I hadn't scheduled much for evenings during the week, and plan to use those times to complete leftovers from the weekend. By 8 Aug 05, things will be done, or I'll be dead trying! More updates to follow!

Newest Monster In Town!!

It is official – I have created a monster! It is a full-blown list of “stuff” that needs to get done around the house – for my visiting girlfriend from Houston, and “Everything Else.” I have enlisted my project coordination skills for this list – assigned them letters indicating if they are something I can do, something that will require the help of a relative, friend or a professional, and some things that will have to wait until I’m better employed, like “buy and install dishwasher.”

The next step included organizing them by area in the house or yard and assigning a date to aim for while accomplishing the tasks. For example, 11 of the items are scheduled for completion THIS weekend. UGH! There’s lots on the list, and some which requires my son’s involvement. Also, I've managed to schedule tasks for myself during the time he may be helping, which will most likely push my tasks off onto another day. I am keeping my fingers crossed! Granted, Michael's been an angel this week – helping his great aunt with her storage dilemma and shifting boxes so she can find and reach stuff, bringing me a bunch of white asparagus he found at the store (he knows I'm a sucker for it!), bringing an old co-worker and friend by to visit. And now I’m asking for more. Considering today is his 10th wedding anniversary, with the frequency of my requests for help, here’s hoping he sees his 11th!

Anyway, the general categories for my friend’s visit contain stuff like “vacuum, clean, wash windows.” Those are vague enough. But it is the “Everything Else” category is the difficult one. It contains such vague references as “backyard – weed and mulch.”

Then, there are all the “side tasks” – those things not listed, but that will pop up when there’s no time to complete them. I’ll take a stab at doing them as they’re uncovered, but we all know that will throw the schedule off by days. These things include such as cleaning and filling the kitchen cabinets my son plans to rehang tomorrow. With any luck, the “when” column will only contain things labeled “Soon,” “Fall,” and “Someday” by August 8th. Should be interesting to see how far I get – how far into the future things will manage to get postponed. Actually, I've managed to postpone many of these tasks for three years. You have to wonder why the push now to do something about them! With any luck, I will end up with a clean house, a beautiful yard, and a garage I can park my car in! But, more importantly, this will take care of all those constant little niggling voices in my head saying, “You really MUST caulk in this bathroom!” every time I go in there.

Right!

Will keep ya posted!

Hydrangeas Everywhere You Look!

Most who know me remember the cabinet doors I slaved on for months - painting, stenciling, and antiqueing. Well, they're hung up on the wall in the kitchen, and while cleaning out space for them, a couple of forgotten ceramic tiles came to light.

A few years ago, I'd thought about painting floor tiles to look like they had a carpet on them, bought the paints and then didn't do them. When I found the tile, thought - "hum . . . I wonder?"

So, here's the original . . . .



And here's the tile knock-off - I plan to use it as a trivet. Painted with Porcelaine then baked at 300 degrees - should be very durable. Pretty slick! May even try those floor tiles one day!

New Kitchen Cabinets (courtesy of Michael & Angela)

The first new kitchen cabinet door


Just finished the basics this evening on the trial run of kitchen cabinet doors. The stenciling has been done on a light yellow base and the whole front has been antiqued then is covered in polyurethane. With another 10 or so to do, it seems it may be months before my poor car gets to see the inside of the garage again!

The Uninvited House Guest

Two weeks ago while working on the kitchen cabinets out in the garage, I noticed the bag of grass seed I bought awhile back had been chewed open. Of course, I immediately blamed the squirrels – little devils are into everything! Nothing’s sacred anymore! Anyway, last Friday evening, I decided it was time to start the stenciling on the cabinet doors and went out to the garage to grab one to experiment with. As I got out there and picked up the door – I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye and looked up just in time to see a nice, fat rat running for cover.

Actually, those are one of the things I am terrified of. I had one once back in the late 80s while living in Alexandria, VA. The nasty thing got into the trash can and I saw it when I dropped in a bag of old newspapers. Of course, my ex was away at training and I had nobody who could dispose of the vermin for me. So, I grabbed my handy 22-short pocket pistol and shot the thing – a few times. Ok, so I emptied the entire clip into the trash can. Amazingly, there was only one hole in the can when I was done, so it was apparent the rat got the worst of it. I was referred to as "The Great White Hunter" for a while . . . .

Anyway, back to 2004. As soon as I noticed the creature (I’m sure it was about a foot long or more), I got on the phone and alerted my son, Michael. I said, “Michael – I have a rat in my garage and NO GUN!” After poo-pooing my hysteria for a bit, he finally agreed to come over and lead the search party. We moved lots of junk in the garage, and he was armed only with a flashlight and spade. I, all the while, stood cringing in the corner. We finally decided it was a huge job – too big for a spade – and ended up going to the hardware store for heavy artillery – a rat trap. We baited it with a ball of American cheese and left it on a well-traveled route (you could tell due to the poop trail).

Long story short, it finally was killed sometime Saturday night (a good, clean kill – right behind its little ear) but I had to dispose of the corpse. (Michael had made it clear he had NO intention of doing this for me – I was being WAY too silly!) I managed to pick it up, trap and all, with the trusty spade and put it in a plastic bag. It now sits in the trash can, waiting for this morning’s pick up. I can’t wait to know it is finally out of my life! Be grateful I didn't include a picture of this!

Yes, I apologized to the squirrels :(

Life Development

I'm not sure when my life spiraled out of my control, but I've been busy, busy, busy! Grace and I are working on stained glass, I'm helping with a friend's computer, painting/stenciling/antiquing kitchen cabinets, and visiting other friends, along with the usual shopping, cleaning, laundry, trash, cooking, yardwork and working (finally!) that goes along with life in general. After eight months of unemployment, I got used to having all the time in the world to run errands and do my little projects. Now, it seems there aren't enough hours in the day to get it all done! Last night, for example, I found myself grocery shopping at 10 p.m., mainly because I was out of essentials - bread, milk, lunch fixins. It all seems to get done eventually, but some of my projects are moving at a much slower pace while I seem to be moving at a much more hectic one these days!

Science 101

I know that the burning question on everybody’s mind is this: Just how far can you spread two tablespoons of chunky garden pepper salsa? You don’t have to wonder any more – after extensive not-so-scientific research this evening, I can tell you – you can successfully coat the interior of an 8 foot cube. Not only does this stuff cling to horizontal surfaces, but vertical ones, as well!! Doesn’t matter if the surface is vinyl flooring, glass (such as found on microwave doors and windows in the wall), painted wood (such as a basement door), varnished wood (like the cabinet doors), tile (as found on kitchen walls), cotton fabric (such as my shirt), nylon fibers (such as are found in my throw rug), enamel (like the stove), and there may even still be some still clinging on the ceiling (not to mention the ceiling fan).

Yes, my friends, I beseech you – NEVER, EVER shake a jar of salsa unless you make darned sure the lid is screwed on tightly!!! Just remember - I did this for all of YOU - so you won't have to!